"You Aren't Black For Real, You Can't Even Play Spades!"

"You aren't black for real. All black people know how to play spades!" I'm sure we all heard this one before or something similar like: "You don't drink koolaid? You aren't black", "You've never watched Roots before? You aren't black!", and or "You're dark skinned, how are you black with a "Spanish" last name?" That last one by the way is my all-time favorite (NOT). I cannot begin to tell you how many times people have made that comment to me and every time it happens it always seems to throw me off my feet!

Well not anymore! Now I live for educating others that there is every kind of skin tone and race in every ethnicity! Hispanics come in every shade and we all don't fit into just one particular stereotype or standard. I am a black Latina. We all don't participate in the stereotypical activities such as Spades, which is popular amongst the African American culture.

I may not be able to play Spades, but I enjoy doing everything else under the sun (literally)! Being black and being Latina is all in the blood. Being black doesn't have anything to do with: skin color, hair texture, and or the actitivies you participate in. So no, I'm not your typical "black" person or "Latina" person: I hike, swim, do yoga, dance to any genre of music, do my own hair, host events, create almost anything you can think of, and travel! I have visited ten countries and been on 57 trips within the past 4 yrs. I taught at elementary schools on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade level, and now I educate people on how to change their lives, travel, and design my own merchandise and apparel.

So I can't play Spades because I never took the time to learn how, but I am black and muy bueno at everything I put my hands on! Soy La Blatina! -- BLatina with the Good Hair